Physical performance characteristics of assisted living residents and risk for adverse health outcomes.

Purpose: Researchers know little about the physical performance ability of residential care/assisted living (RC/AL) residents and its relationship to adverse outcomes such as fracture, nursing home placement, functional decline, and death. The purposes of this article are to (a) describe the functional characteristics of RC/AL residents, (b) examine the relationships between resident- and facility-level characteristics and physical performance, and (c) determine the predictive value of physical performance for adverse outcomes.

Design And Methods: Data came from 1,791 residents in 189 RC/AL facilities participating in the Collaborative Studies of Long-Term Care.